Escalated bombing in Syria’s Idlib displaces nearly 140,000, UN says

Date created : 02/05/2019 - 07:42Latest update : 02/05/2019 - 14:24

Aaref Watad, AFP | A Syrian family flee from reported regime shelling on Hama and Idlib provinces on May 1. Bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally on northwestern Syria has displaced nearly 140,000 people since February.

Fighting in northwestern Syria has displaced nearly 140,000 people since February, the UN said on Wednesday, as the regime and its ally Russia have stepped up their bombardment.

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"Since February, over 138,500 women, children and men have been displaced from northern Hama and southern Idlib," said David Swanson of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.

"Between 1 and 28 April, its estimated more than 32,500 individuals have moved to different communities in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama governorates," he told AFP.

Idlib has been protected from a massive regime offensive by a September deal inked by Damascus ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

But the region of some three million people has come under increasing bombardment since former the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group took full control of it in January.

The escalation has killed more than 200 civilians since February, the UN said last week.

'Schools and medical centres targeted'

A new wave of shelling and airstrikes this week targeted schools and medical centres, according to Swanson.

"The UN is deeply concerned over the recent escalation," he said.

The attacks targeted parts of Hama and southern Idlib, including the village of al-Qasabiyah.

"The majority of the Al-Qasabiyah village residents reportedly displaced to safer villages due to hostilities in the area," Swanson said.